There is very little butter in this recipe, yet it has a rich buttery taste. Weird huh?

Ingredients:
-2 egg yolks
-90g tapioca starch
-40g flour
-1/3 tsp baking powder
-few drops yellow coloring (optional)
-60g sugar
-2 tbs sweetened condense milk
-1 tbs melted butter

What to Do:
Mix together tapioca starch, flour and baking powder. Beat the egg yolks with the sugar until light and lemoned colored. Add yellow coloring, condensed milk, and butter. Add flour mixture. Rest dough for 1/2 hour. Preheat oven to 350'F, divide dough into 10-12 portions. Roll each portion into small balls and place on a cookie sheet. Bake for about 10-15 mins.

Reference:
Bánh Hoa Cúc by Madam Nguyễn Thị Hường aka Gia Chánh Hoa Hường/Rose School of Home Economics

The first step in making this dish is to make the basic sauce. The basic sauce is then used to make the beef and liver jerkies, and as dressing for the salad.

Basic Sauce:
-3 parts sugar
-3 parts soy sauce
-3 parts water
-1 part ginger (crushed)
-1 part chili sauce (optional)

*Boil everything together in a saucepan until sugar dissolves. Cool before using.

Beef Jerky:
Basic sauce + pepper + 5 spice + honey + minced garlic + mince shallots = marinate for jerky.

Liver Jerky:
Marinate 1/4" slices of beef liver in basic sauce for approx 1/2 hour. Simmer liver slices and marinate in a frying pan until all of the liquid evaporates. Add about 1tbs butter and fry until liver is golden, fragrant and jerky like in texture.

Dressing:
Basic sauce + minced garlic + red vinegar.

The Salad:
Shredded green papaya + chopped thai basil + beef jerky cut into thin strips + liver jerky cut into thin strips + dressing.

What do you do when you're itching to make paus but don't have the time to go after "traditional recipes" which call for long hours of proving? Use a mix? NO! Why use a mix when you can make you own paus from scratch... in roughly 20mins? Here it is, my express pau dough recipe. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
-400g all purpose flour
-4 1/2 tsp double acting baking powder
-100g sugar
-1 tbs oil
-130g fresh milk or water

What to Do:
Mix together flour and baking powder, sift twice. Stir together milk, sugar and oil. Add milk mixture to flour mixture and mix well, knead for about 5 mins. Rest dough for 10 mins, wrap filling and steam. Done!

Note:
Flour and baking powder must be mixed well and sifted twice to ensure the paus will be white and fluffy. Recipe makes enough dough for about 12 large "dai paus" or 24 small sweet/dimsum/char siu paus. The paus will puff up and double in size when steamed so space them accordingly in the steamer.

Ingredients:
-300g crushed hominy
-100g sweet rice (aka glutinous rice)
-pandan leaves (optional)
-toasted sesame seeds
-salt
-sugar
-fresh grated coconut

What to Do:
Mix together hominy and rice; rinse and soak overnight. Drain and add enough water to cover the surface of the rice and hominy by approx. 1 1/2". Simmer with pandan leaves until all of the water is absorbed and the hominy is tender (about 30-45mins). Serve with sugar, coconut, pinch of salt and toasted sesame seeds.

Note:
If all of the water has evaporated and the hominy is still not tender; just add more water and continue to simmer until done.

Ingredients:
-1/2 recipe basic spongefon cake
-approx 150g grated coconut
-2 tbs tapioca starch

What to Do:
Make the pandan variation of spongefon cake. Mix together coconut and starch. Lightly grease cake moulds and fill about 1/3 with coconut mixture. "Pack" the coconut down with you fingers. Fill the remainder of the mould with cake batter. Steam cakes for about 15 mins, lifting the lid of the steamer every 5 mins to release excess steam.